String block

ABSTRACT

A SORTING METHOD UTILIZING A DIRECT ACCESS STORAGE DEVICE. AN INITIAL SORT PHASE COMBINES A REPLACEMENT-SELECTION SORT WITH BUILDING AN INDEX CONTAINING THE LOCATION AND A KEY OF A RECORD IN EACH STRING BLOCK WRITTEN FROM THE REPLACEMENT-SELECTION SORT. A FINAL SORT PHASE COM-   BINES A REPLACEMENT-SELECTION SORT WITH REMOVAL OF RECORDS TO THE OUTPUT FILE. OTHER SORT STRATEGIES CAN BE USED IN THE INITIAL AND FINAL PHASES.

DEFENSIVE PUBLICATION UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Published at the request of the applicant or owner in accordance with the Notice of Dec. 16, 1969, 869 O.G. 687. The abstracts 01! Defensive Publication applications are identified by distinctly numbered series and are arranged chronologically. The heading of each abstract indicates the number of pages of specification, including claims and sheets of drawings contained in the application as originally filed. The files of these applications are available to the public for inspection and reproduction may he purchased for 30 cents a sheet.

Defensive Publication applications have not been examined as to the merits of alleged invention. The Patent Oflice make! no assertion as to the novelty of the disclosed subject matter.

PUBLISHED MARCH 5, 1974 920 O.Gr. 9

T920,010 SORTING METHOD Watson M. Conner H, Los Gatos, Calif., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk,

Continuation of application Ser. No. 210,893, Dec. 22, 1971. This application May 14, 1973, Ser. No. 359,938 Int. Cl. G06f 9/16 US. Cl. 444-1 2 Sheets Drawing. 22 Pages Specification .WORK FILE INDEX RECORD STORAGE AREA BLOCK STRING March 5, 1974 w. M. CO-NNER ll T920,0l0

SORTING METHOD Original Filed Dec. 22, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet l wGRII EIIE I INPNT 56 DEX FILE 52 RECORD, STORAGE AREA 55 4 OUTP T HG. 1 BL05C8Kj STRIJBLOCK 55 g RESET STRING START MAKE INDEX ENTRY FOR STRING BLOCK INRITE STRING BLOCK IN WORK EIIE (i) MAKE INDEX REPCUOTRDRSAIN ENTRY EoR STRING BLOCK ING BLOCK wRITE STRING BLOCK soRT INDEX March 5, 1974 w, CONNER 7 SORTI NG METHOD Original Filed Dec. 22, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 START GET LOW RSA RECORD REMOVE LOW INDEX ENTRY WRITE STRING BLOCK. ADD IT TO INDEX PUT LOW RSA GET INPUT RECORD FROM BLOCK FIG. 3C 

